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Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. He broke it off with the woman, but his problems were only beginning. Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint, to Rotting More than 500 inmates crowd into a cell block designed for 200. Tony is my friend, and well always love each other. But all the cops found were five grams of weed, a bottle of Viagra, and some mysterious yellow pills. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says. Both Juan and Tarzan shared with Russell how they had graduated from buying helicopters, motorcycles and cars for the cartel from Russia to pursuing a submarine for the drugrunners. They had girls in every city. But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. "There was no transportation, no cops, no nothing," he says. Guards with machine guns man rusty metal towers. This is a guy that the FBI went after for years but could never get him. "It was puppy love," he says. See Photos. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. Filthy and crowded cell block of La Joya Prison, Panama. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. Panamanian police had been casing the Doll House, Moulin Rouge, and another joint, called Havana Club, for weeks. Making the documentary, he says: I found the story so compelling and so riveting that I was just relentlessly magnetized to it. She's forgiven me, for the most part. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. But it bored him. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. This time, I'm innocent.". In the early 1990s, three friends set out to hustle the Russian mob, the Cali cartel and the DEA for the score of a lifetime. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. Greed got the better of him. Panama became Galeota's personal paradise. "It was a real moneymaker. He was a character.. Wrongly imprisoned. "I just watched Luis blow a guy away," Galeota heard himself say on tape. Now the stranger-than-fiction story is brought to life in new documentary Operation Odessa, a film thats closer to a roller-coaster ride than anything else and premieres on Showtime March 31. He left, but returned with a gun. Its impossible but only because its true. The last one locked the door. People named Tony Galeta. He created a souped-up cigarette boat that went for $2 million and was presumably used to transport cocaine. ", http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2012-10-04/news/tony-galeota-from-running-porky-s-miami-s-most-notorious-strip-joint-to-rotting-in-a-panamanian-jail/full/. More detailed reports on the crimes weren't available. "They knew some Russian guy named Tarzan who had just opened up a club in Miami called Porky's. Rising swiftly through the ranks, John buries his conscience to become a notorious Mafia hitman. But instead of classical music, his specialty is sex. He was a loan shark: generously offering money but punishing those who didn't pay back. On a crowded balcony overlooking La Joya, Galeota describes the past 16 months as a nightmare. "Now I'm living in hell.". Galeota is no angelic Andy Dufresne, the main character in Shawshank who serves two decades behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. He and Fainberg were on their way to riches thanks to powerful friends and legalized prostitution. He faced nine years in prison, but because he provided evidence against Almeida, he served just three years before being deported to his adopted homeland of Israel. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. Three weeks after the Doll House raid, Kristy was working the bar at Bongos when three teenagers walked into the restaurant. Theyre nice guys [the cartel members], and I didnt ask what they needed the submarine for., If they woke up and were hungry, they would fly a private jet to Cancun for lunch, says Tiller Russell, director of Operation Odessa. Then theyd roll to Venezuela to check out a new casino. Docs need stars just like features need stars. I gave each of my kids a Rolex when they were 5 years old. When he heard that his old partner in crime from Porky's had moved to Panama, he flew in to meet with Galeota. All the services here are free. But when he opens a new club in Panama City, the competition isn't happy and frames him for drug dealing. View Tony Galeota's 1940 US census record to find family members, occupation details & more. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. These interdiction's were part of Operation Martillo, an international operation to fight illegal trafficking. Then once he sent me this crazy email like, Holy s***! I definitely want his number and so I began chasing it from there and actually jumped on a plane, went down and smuggled myself into this Panamanian prison to meet with him.. Access is free so discover Tony Galeota's story today. Years later, Tarzan again found himself behind bars, this time in Panama; in fact, he was serving time in 2011 when Russell first approached him for the documentary. A bartender characterized Porkys as the kind of place where you could get killed. Babushka was so notorious that FBI agents who described Tarzan as a matre d for criminals bugged the booths there. It's not quite Shawshank Redemption, but when Tony Galeota walked out of a Panama City jail cell May 23, it was still a small serving of justice. So we met with a realtor, got high, and Tony got stupid with money. Marshals deported Ludwig Fainberg from Miami. He soon finds himself wanting to be a mobster, and starts running errands for them. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Texas man busted in death of DJ galpal found stuffed in suitcase in Colombia, Inside the luxe lives of El Chapo's sons including jailbird Ovidio Guzmn Lpez, Arizona officials say Mexican cartels control US border: 'Ticking time bomb', Passengers on Aeromexico flight crouch in fear as plane caught in cartel crossfire: video. A sign on the latter reads, "District Attorney for Drugs: Do Not Enter." In describing Tarzan, Almeida says in the film, He struck me as an oddball. Tarzan classifies Almeida as a guy who had two drinks and thought he was Tony Montana. As for movie-star handsome, hooker-loving Yesters first impression of Tarzan: I said, This f- -king guy is trouble. Thirty minutes later, I loved the trouble., Abetted by the tumultuous state of the former Soviet Union the ruble was completely devalued and state-owned resources went to whomever had the most firepower gaining access to the submarine was surprisingly easy. "Maybe we didn't have the permits we were supposed to have, but we're foreigners who didn't understand the rules.". Through the air plane window, Tony Galeota could see the city's colonial churches glow like polished gold. October 4, 2012 It was 1990, and Galeota transformed the place by wiring in subwoofers and bringing in New York dancers. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. While on routine patrol, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection plane spotted a suspicious speed boat. In this real life Goodfellas tale, New York teen John Alite gets a job at his local Deli, a hangout for 'wise guys'. Family members can also bring them food and clean water, however, and inmates bribe guards to smuggle in additional items. I hoped to walk away from the deal with $10 million.. Back in South Florida, Kristy Galeota vacillates between outrage and empathy for her husband. For the most part, Doll House dancers agree. Tarzan, got his first job in America as an enforcer for the Gambino crime family. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. The FBI swooped in January 21, surrounding the club and arresting Fainberg. Tony and Kristy were shocked and out of a job. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. While he, Tarzan and Juan were dealing with the Colombians and while Tony and Tarzan even got onto a Russian military naval base to tour a possible submarine for the deal the entire time the Cuban was planning to rip off the Colombians. Instead of celebrating, he walked through the scuzzy neighborhood until he found a shabby motel. "He had that guido effect on me," she says. Sheila Flynn For Dailymail.com In hand-painted white lettering, it reads, "Dear visitors. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. This time, the feds took over the strip club before selling it to new owners, with one requirement: Neither Galeota nor anyone else from the old club could ever work there again. The goods came from sources in the freshly fallen Soviet Union, a place where everything seemed to be up for grabs at ridiculously low prices. Over the course of three months, undercover detectives made dozens of visits, tallying up a vivid snapshot of the club: "15 purchases of cocaine, four purchases of MDMA, one purchase of Xanax, one purchase of marijuana, 18 solicitations for prostitution, [and] 20 lewd acts.". The domestic bliss lasted only a couple of weeks. And so it was extraordinary, where sort of person after person was this larger-than-life character, from Fat Tony the bartender to Tony Yester the spy-turned-dope-dealer-turned-fugitive. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. "Miami is a place where I would love to live," he pronounced, "and where I would love to die." Tony Galletta. This business has been very good to me.". And, above all, selling it. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Kristy caught Tony cheating several times, she says. "I'm not a religious person, but I believe I went to jail because I was living like a rock star -- running around with all these women, drinking a bottle of vodka every day for two years," he says. Panama's judicial system is outdated and overburdened, she says. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. Galeota also found himself in the back of an unmarked FBI car. By Create a free family tree for yourself or for Tony Galeota and we'll search for valuable new information for you. Galeota's wife Kristy comments "Porky's was definitely a place you could get killed." Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss - Giant insects infest the prison. "It was puppy love," he says. Locked Up Abroad 151M subscribers Miami mobster Tony Galeota is a strip-club supremo. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, running Miami's most infamous strip club, Porky's, Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint, to Rotting in a Panamanian Jail, Sex and Drugs in the Champagne Room: The Truth About Porky's and Other Miami Strip Clubs. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. Galeota was crammed into a sweltering holding cell with 150 others. Apparently knowing all too well how things would shake out, Yester decided to screw his partners and take off for Amsterdam with the first $10 million. Let me check.. the agent said. Tarzan and one of his partners, Fat Tony Galeota, had opened a strip club in Panama similar to a previous enterprise in Miami called Porkys but they landed behind bars in Central America. And multiple sources close to Fainberg say he was pressured to rat out Seidle but refused. Miami's independent source of People named Tony Galeota Find your friends on Facebook Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. If anything, Galeota's life got even more out of control after Fainberg's arrest. He hired 'Fat Tony' Galeota as Porky's manager. Luckier still, a powerful Colombian inmate named Mauricio Ramrez recognized Galeota from his restaurant. The submarine request, which came from Yester on behalf of the cartel, was not as outrageous as it now sounds. Inside, the bar is still littered with half-empty bottles of Chivas Regal. 17:57 GMT 13 Mar 2018. The $33,000 number is actually the wholesale price in the US for smugglers - or how much a kilo is worth delivered to US soil, for traffickers. "It was puppy love," he says. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. They finally fled the country this past July, leaving Tony alone. Tarzan was released from the Panamanian prison in around 2016 and has since built a side career out of playing tough guys in gangster flicks shot in Russia, where he now lives. I have to tell you, all my enemies are dead, and Im happy, he says in the documentary. He was 31. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. Tony Galeto. Reborn behind bars. Miami's independent source of Join Facebook to connect with Anthony Galeota and others you may know. We didn't even have to have sex unless we wanted to," says a Colombian stripper named Catherine. And, above all, selling it. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. I was literally on a press tour for the last film, and I was in New York doing interviews and stuff I called the producers and said, Do you think we can get a million dollars in the next five days?. He knew that the owners of a local strip club called Moulin Rouge David Fridman and Jake Lita (an Israeli wanted by German police on human-trafficking charges) had a business offer for the duo. None of them ever appeared in the newspapers, but Hialeah police records confirm there were at least ten shootings at Porky's during Galeota's tenure. Instead, they eat rice for lunch and dinner, drink dirty river water, and use a hole in the ground for a toilet. "Now I'm living in hell.". His mother, Bonnie Gellilti, was "a bit of a criminal," Tony remembers. People named Toni Galeota Find your friends on Facebook Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. He'd already invested in seven apartments in Panama City and rented a storefront on the capital's seediest street, where prostitution was legal. "It was home to a lot of shrewd and nefarious characters.". I said, Thank you, Cali cartel. And there was absolutely no bullshit.